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The Significance of the Mass

Schmidt Number: S-1043

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The Significance of the Mass

Rudolf Steiner Archive Document

Lectures Section

A lecture delivered in Cologne, on March 17th 1905. Authorized translation
from the German of Notes unrevised by the lecturer. Published by kind
permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach,
Switzerland.
Also known as:
The Mystical Meaning of the Mass
Lecture 1 of 28 from the lecture series:
The Christian Mystery.
This translation is by one of:
James H. Hinds,
Catherine E. Creeger,
Dorothy S. Osmond, or
Christopher Bamford.
The Bn/GA is unknown.

Notes of a Lecturegiven by Rudolf Steiner in Cologne17th
March 1905Bn/GA Unknown

A lecture delivered in Cologne, on March 17th 1905. Authorized translation
from the German of Notes unrevised by the lecturer. Published by kind
permission of the Rudolf Steiner Nachlassverwaltung, Dornach,
Switzerland.

Also known as:
The Mystical Meaning of the Mass,
Lecture 1 of 28 from the lecture series:
The Christian Mystery.
This translation is by one of (perhaps):
James H. Hinds,
Catherine E. Creeger,
Dorothy S. Osmond, or
Christopher Bamford.
The Bn/GA is unknown.

This e.Text edition is provided through the wonderful work of:Various e.Text Transcribers

Lovingly typed and donated by an anonymous donor, this lecture has been made available to everyone.

THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE MASS

Notes
of a Lecture
Given by Dr. Rudolf Steiner
Cologne, March 17, 1905
(1043)

If
we wish to know the origin of the
Catholic Mass, we must trace it back historically to the
Mysteries. The Mysteries were sanctuaries where not only
the higher wisdom was taught and acquired, but where the
corresponding phenomena were practiced.

The
Mysteries took on a special
popular form in the stream of civilization that came from
Persia and Egypt; and in these originated the Mass. Before
the appearance of Christ anyone who wished to acquire
knowledge of the higher worlds had to be received as a
pupil into an occult school. He had first to learn how the
world and man came into being; he had to learn concerning
the origin of the world and the significance of man within
it. He was instructed as to how the divine Cosmic Spirit
everywhere took form, how it could be seen in minerals,
plants and animals, etc. Man is a fusion of everything
which is in the world. Paracelsus once said that all the
beings in the world are letters of the alphabet, and MAN is
the word in which all these letters are to be found. He is
the Microcosm in the Macrocosm.

The
pupils were taught how the Divine
Being split up into many single ones and united again in
Man. Further, the pupil was made to experience this
division of the Divine Spirit and its return in man. Man
brought into the world the lower desires and passions; the
lower animal forms are decadent products of man. What is
expressed in the savage passions of the animal was brought
into the world by man. The original condition of the world
was what we now see realized in the mineral world. The
precious stones have no longings, no desires, no wishes;
they are chaste and unassuming. If we think of beings with
this chaste and unassuming nature we have the ideal of the
occult pupil before us. He had to arouse within himself the
following feeling: “Thou must again become like the
pure, passionless creation which came in all its purity
from the hand of the Creator.” He sacrificed all the
lower within himself. That was Katharsis, the purification
of desire and passion; and this corresponds with the
Sacrifice in the Mass, the second part of the Mass. The
first part is the Revelation or Gospel, when the Message of
the outpouring of the Cosmic Spirit in nature is
communicated, the reasonable understanding of how the world
came into being. This is followed by the second part, the
Sacrifice. The student had to have the will to undertake
the return journey to the original chaste created form.
When he was ready for this he was allowed to enter the
actual Mysteries. In the Egyptian Mysteries he had to spend
three days alone in an enclosed space, and was transported
into a condition of consciousness in which he developed
higher kinds of perception.

The
Descent of God into the world,
and the Divine Division, he then experienced in the soul
world or astral world when he was ready to sacrifice
himself in a similar way. First of all he experienced a
picture which was made clear to him by the sure conviction:
“This is what thou wast at the time when thou wast
free from desires and passions, having as yet no wish of
thine own.” He saw the picture of himself in our
past, an image of man at the higher stage. Secondly he saw
how this image of man brought forth a masculine human image
whose countenance shone like the sun; this was Osiris. He
saw the coming forth of Osiris from Archetypal Man
surrounded by a shining aura. After it has separated off, a
second being — Isis — the picture then
developed into the present form, Horus, and the present man
was born. The pupil was now an awakened soul. In
present-day man, when asleep, there is first of all the
physical man, then the etheric body, and further, the
astral aura arising from the sleeper. Man then finds
himself within his aura, having forsaken the physical body.
In the depths of the Temple Mysteries the occult pupil
experienced this consciously in his astral body. He was
then a transformed and consecrated being. One who is
transformed in this way can perceive the light bodies of
the lower beings.

This
transformation of man in his
astral form was the third stage of the Mysteries. The pupil
was then clearly aware of the following: “Even as
thou hast now seen Osiris, so hast thou once thyself. Thou
hast been astral and hast become physical. Thou must now
resolve to be embodied a second time.” The soul must
descend again into the physical body of its own free will.
When the pupil came forth from the Mysteries he was to
carry his physical body consciously, as part of
himself.

He
now received a new name which he
felt he could bear for all time. Every one of us has such a
name, which is ours through all our incarnations. This
eternal name was given to the initiate. Of his own free
will he incarnated in his body, and he could now say
“I” to his own body; but the initiate knows
that he is not the same as his body. He carries his body on
his back; he is crucified on his body; he is crucified in
matter. He then comes forth, being able to accomplish
consciously all that he formerly did unconsciously. This
union with the body was called “Communion,” the
fourth event in the Mysteries. Only one who was transformed
in this way and re-united with his body was a true
initiate.

And
now Christ appeared upon the
Earth. His appearance exemplified what formerly took place
within the Mysteries. This was now enacted before the world
in physical space. Formerly single individuals were led
through the Mysteries; now all that was experienced in the
Mysteries became an historical event. A true historical
event took place in the Sacrificial Death of Christ Jesus.

In
memory of those Mysteries Christ
Jesus instituted a memorial. Those who dedicated themselves
to Christ were no longer required to “see,”
which means to “see a Mystery.” Those who were
to attain inner knowledge no longer required to see the
Mystery; the outer sign was sufficient. This outer sign has
a profound significance. The three higher principles of the
human being are: Atma, Buddhi, Manas. Formerly in speaking
of man one spoke of Atma, Buddhi, Manas; at that time
everyone believed that each life was only one of a long
series, that it was, as it were, “earned.” Man
was quite permeated by this thought. At the same time he
looked right beyond his personal life, and did not attach
much importance to it.

Now
the task of the first two
thousand years after Christ was to educate man for the
higher Ego through Kama Manas. The personal life was to be
taken seriously and deeply. Two thousand years or
thereabouts, brings man to Devachan. During this period the
whole of humanity must pass through one such incarnation,
in which value is attached to the personal life.

Christ
went forth with Peter, James,
and John up to the mountain (that is to say, into the Holy
Place); that is, He led them to devachanic vision. There
they saw Moses and Elias by the side of Jesus. Elias (El)
means The Way. Moses means The Truth (ethical or moral
truth). Jesus is The Life. Jesus says to His disciples:
“Elias has reappeared.” John was Elias. He says
to them further: “Do not speak of this until I come
again.” They were not to speak of the doctrine of
reincarnation until He came again in a new Cosmic Cycle.
For two thousand years the world was to learn the value of
personality. That which passes from one incarnation to
another is the purer substance of man, the Water, the
Spiritual. “The Spirit of God brooded over the
waters” — the empty ocean of humanity.

Water
is the symbol of impersonal
man. Wine is the symbol of personal man. Christ changed the
water into wine; out of an impersonal religion He
instituted the religion of personality. As water is related
to wine, so is the impersonal nature of man to the
personal. Whoever wishes to understand the doctrine of
reincarnation and rise above the personality must refrain
from wine, for one who enjoys wine will never attain an
individual view of what is impersonal in man.

The
lower body was to be ennobled and
purified. Therefore for two thousand years Christianity was
to live without the doctrine of reincarnation. Christ
appeared to sanctify personality. As a sign that Christ
took over the whole Sacrifice which was formerly
accomplished in the Mysteries He instituted the Sacrifice
of the Mass, in which the Act of the Mysteries was repeated
in an outer symbol.

The
external ceremony is as follows:
The Celebrant with his servers advances to the Altar. First
there is an Act of Preparation (Stafelgebet), Introit, and
then the Kyrie Eleison. That is the outer ceremony. The
inner Mass consists of four parts, the Gospel, the
Oblation, the Transmutation, and the Communion. The Gospel
consists in reading a part of one of the Gospels at the
right of the Altar. The actual altar is so constructed that
it is placed towards the East. The priest stands at the
north side; here he reads the Message. This signifies that
man in the first race, the Polarian, was in the north, and
thence gradually descended into matter. The second part is
the Oblation or Sacrifice. The priest sacrifices that which
represents the higher man as formerly man sacrificed
himself. The Chalice is the outer symbol of the human
heart. What we have in our hearts represents something for
the future; it is not much developed as yet, but it
contains the spiritual.

When
man no longer thinks in matter
but in the spiritual, the heart will be the organ of
thought. At the present time the heart is still personal.
The wine in the Chalice represents the personal element.
The Oblation signifies the brain. Bread and wine are now
transmuted in the higher nature, Christ Himself. The
Sacrifice brings about the transformation of man. This Act
is spoken in low tones, so that no one can hear it but the
priest himself. This is symbolical of the fact that the
divine part in man is something which he only addresses
within himself. Every man can only say “I” to
himself. For this reason the Hebrew Secret Doctrine was
very reluctant to allow the Name to be uttered —
Jahve — which is the actual “I” in the
inner being. Hence the words in the Offertory are half
silent, half murmuring.

The
third part in the Sacrifice of
the Mass is the Transubstantiation. All this represents
that there is something in external nature which is an
image of the Godhead. The Godhead is represented in the
coarser as well as in the finer substances — in bread
and wine, body and blood. The moment that consciousness is
awake to the fact that we are here concerned with
transmuted substances we actually have at the altar —
in the Host — substance such as we have in our brain;
and in the Wine, substance such as we have in our heart
(blood). The priest breaks the Host in a particular way
into a particular number of pieces, nine pieces.

Corporatio

Natuitas

Passio

Circumcisio

Resurrectio

Apparitio

Gloria

Mors

Regnum

Corporatio Embodiment

Natuitas Birth

Circumcisio Circumcision

Apparitio Manifestation, Unveiling

Mors Death

Passio The Passion

Ressurectio The Resurrection

Gloria Glory

Regnum The Kingdom

These
nine pieces represent the
transmuted man who now shares in the Highest. They are the
nine parts of man. One to seven are the principles which
man experiences within his personality, while eight and
nine extend beyond it. That is why they are laid aside.
Thus does man unite himself with his sevenfold nature in
the Communion and strives for the Glory and the
Kingdom.

This
is accompanied by the
Paternoster. First comes the reference to the living God in
Heaven; then “Thy Name,” — the Name of
God, of the Logos Who had become Flesh in Christ; and then
“Thy Kingdom.” The whole is a symbol for the
existing Cosmos. Man must understand his communion with
this world. Only the man who came forth from the Mysteries
could understand the World that is expressed in the
Paternoster.

At
special festivals the Sanctissimus
is added, the consecrated Monstrance which contains the
Sacred Body. This is a sun-like circular vessel with rays,
and rests in a crescent-shaped sheath.

Osiris
and Isis are here represented;
the union of Osiris and Isis stands as Sanctissimus above
the Mass, a symbol for the condition when the Sun still
enclosed the Moon.

No
priest who is not initiated and
entitled to wear the stole may read the Mass. The stole is
a real priestly garment. The priest wears first of all an
under-robe, then the alb, a surplice with a girdle (a
symbolic garment), then the stole which is crossed over the
breast, then the chasuble. The stole signifies the actual
insignia of the priestly dignity. When he wears this he
feels himself a servant of the Church. He may then have no
opinion of his own; he preserves the opinion of the
priests. He tells himself: “They may be wrong,”
but he proclaims what has been believed for thousands of
years.

In
the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and
Sixteenth Centuries the new age led everything spiritual
into the material. Man learned to judge the world according
to material circumstances. After Galileo and Copernicus all
attention was drawn down to the physical plane. But
everything was conditioned by karma.

Protestantism,
as the later religion,
had no understanding for the Sacrifice of the Mass. When we
see and hear the celebration of the Mass with full
understanding, we have before us the later reflection of
the initiation as enacted in the old Egyptian Pyramids.

From
the Sun-man Osiris the physical
man came forth. To the Sun man he must again return.
Unconsciously he descended from the Sun heights; he must
re-ascend to them in full consciousness.

Those
who follow their psychic path
with as full security as the Sun circles in its course, are
Sun heroes. They have attained the six grades of
initiation.